[tortie]

Quote:

I'm not the type of person that would sit down hours on end A/B'ing different components and taking notes. I simply will listen to my music with the various components to see if I like the sonic signature or not.

Same here

Here are my findings based on my different personal experiences with my headphone gear & tweaks.

I tried hard but heard no difference
Rainbow Foil
Vibrapods
Brickwall vs Monstercable PC1000
Y-Splitters
Headphone adaptors
Cardas Caps
Isolating analog from digital power sources
CDP Damping
$30 powercords vs $100 powercords

I think I can hear a difference, but im not really sure. I'll most likely fail in a DBT
$25 IC's & DIY IC's vs $80-100 IC's
default powercords vs $30 & $100 powercords
Using Grado extension cable
963SA upsampling effect
Burn-in effect in audio equipment
SACD vs CD
HD600 vs HD650
Ferrites in general
Headphone Replacement Cables using PC (Sound Blaster) as source

Subtle but can be heard difference. Im optimistic to pass in a DBT
Headphone Replacement Cables using 963SA as source
OP-Amp swapping
Routing IC's and power cords separately in general
Emmeline XP-7 vs Headroom MOH
cheapo IC's vs $20 IC's & DYI IC's


Clearly Noticable Difference
Grado Pad Swapping
Amplification
CD Player Mods done to my 963SA
Shielded IC's used near computer equipment
Routing unsheilded IC's and unshielded power cords separately
Meta42 & RA-1 vs Headroom MOH, Emmeline XP-7
Pinkfloyd X-feed

Very obvious, drastic & unmistakable difference
Computer soundcard (Sound blaster) vs cheap Pioneer CDP.
Cheap Pioneer CDP vs Philips 963SA CDP
No amp vs Meta42 & RA-1
Headphones in general
Headroom crossfeed


Edit: added more info, made list more specific.

 

[aphex944]

Obvious difference:
CD Players
Amplifiers
Speakers
Headphones
Opamps + Capacitors
Compression

Minor:
Radio Shack ICs over cheapo "Wal-Mart" brand
Cat5 used as speaker cable
Burn-in

None:
Power cords/conditioning

 

[rickcr42]

tweaks that work for me :

Removing anything that rattles or vibrates from a room then paying attention to early reflections and bass nodes and adjusting the room as required

Isolating and damping electromechanice devices-turntables,CD players ,DVD players ,tape recorders,etc.

Usually this involves added mass and selective damping

plus i add natural hardwood whenever possible just because i like to !

making sure every connection is cranked down tight and routed away from any AC or RF interference

using the proper guage wire/cable for the particular job it is used for

AC line isolation and parallel resonant filters on the same lines as AC units ,refridgerators , furnaces and any other high current draw device in the house plus the elimination of flourecent lighting when possible

and a lava lamp to relax me when i listen to music

 

[tomek]

so far this isn't what i was expecting.

i was expecting to find trends, possibly meaning that either some components don't really make much of a difference or that some people have better ears.

but some people seem to be ranking sources as a much higher priority than others. i'm not sure how to explain this, except that maybe some people have been exposed to players that have a very similar sound. i think many of the high end players really do have a similar sound. oddly enough, the biggest difference i ever heard with a source was a Harmon/Kardon cd changer with burr brown dacs. It sounded much smoother than other players I heard, including 3000 dollar Myriads which all sounded the same to me.

 

[ipodstudio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 tweaks that work for me : Removing anything that rattles or vibrates from a room then paying attention to early reflections and bass nodes and adjusting the room as required Isolating and damping electromechanice devices-turntables,CD players ,DVD players ,tape recorders,etc. Usually this involves added mass and selective damping plus i add natural hardwood whenever possible just because i like to ! making sure every connection is cranked down tight and routed away from any AC or RF interference using the proper guage wire/cable for the particular job it is used for AC line isolation and parallel resonant filters on the same lines as AC units ,refridgerators , furnaces and any other high current draw device in the house plus the elimination of flourecent lighting when possible and a lava lamp to relax me when i listen to music

Hey Rick, where in the room should that Lava lamp be placed for best effect..?

 

[rickcr42]

anywhere you can see it clearly and a subwoofer bass node does not knock the crap out of it

actually i have one on my right main speaker right now and a diy color organ on the other

 

[ipodstudio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 anywhere you can see it clearly and a subwoofer bass node does not knock the crap out of it

Hmm...I think that cleared things up nicely, thanks Rick..

 

[Leporello]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aerius Cute females: The presence of a cute female makes everything better. The difference is like night & day, having a cute chick in the room makes the music ten times better at least, the sound is more relaxed & intimate, the rhythm & timing is better and everything just becomes more "right".

Certainly one of those occasions when blind tests are not recommended at all.


Regards,

L.

 

[HD-5000]

CD players, oh yes! Very huge difference when evaluating properly.

Amplification: I hear more subtle changes, but still there. Difference between headphone outs with the Senn's are quite obvious.

Speakers: Duh

Cute females: The presence of a cute female in the rom definitely helps the soundstage.

Cables: never bothered to carefully evaluate cables, but heard a difference between my wireworld interconnects and el cheapo ultra long 10M wire. Didn't swap out the Radio Shack 16ga cable yet.

Various objects placed under CD player: Couldn't tell a difference.

Power: Don't know, I don't have aftermarket power cables.

 

[saint.panda]

Difference in order:

Major difference:
1.Headphones (guess that's obvious)
2.from bad source to good source
3.no amp to amp

Minor difference:
3.good source to badass source
4.good amp to badass amp
6.crossfeed (this is simply the best tweak for so little money, no changes to sound quality but the sound perception)

Little difference:
7.opamp rolling (only tried that on a cmoy)
8. $5 IC to $30 IC
9. Jan Meier's analoguer (very subtle but it works. It works better depending on your listening ability. If you can hear very high frequencies, e.g. more than 20khz, then this tweak is supposed to clean up the sound artifacts.)

Not sure about $30 IC to $100 yet. Or even more the differences between $100 and $500 interconnects.

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda Difference in order: Major difference: 1.Headphones (guess that's obvious) 2.from bad source to good source 3.no amp to amp Minor difference: 3.good source to badass source 4.good amp to badass amp 6.crossfeed (this is simply the best tweak for so little money, no changes to sound quality but the sound perception) Little difference: 7.opamp rolling (only tried that on a cmoy) 8. $5 IC to $30 IC 9. Jan Meier's analoguer (very subtle but it works. It works better depending on your listening ability. If you can hear very high frequencies, e.g. more than 20khz, then this tweak is supposed to clean up the sound artifacts.) Not sure about $30 IC to $100 yet. Or even more the differences between $100 and $500 interconnects.

saint.panda is a malign hacker who has stolen my conclusions while I was typing them down

The only thing left to add is my experience with modding my AKG K340, especially exchanging the cable.In order to avoid fooling myself I purchased a second pair for comparison.The new cable bettered the former flabby bass.
Major difference to my ears.

 

[saint.panda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma saint.panda is a malign hacker who has stolen my conclusions while I was typing them down

I agree

Another thing that makes a little bit difference (depending on the headphone) is the positioning on the head as well as putting damping material inside closed headphones (link)

The best tweak is still listening to headphones at night

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek so far this isn't what i was expecting. i was expecting to find trends, possibly meaning that either some components don't really make much of a difference or that some people have better ears. but some people seem to be ranking sources as a much higher priority than others. i'm not sure how to explain this, except that maybe some people have been exposed to players that have a very similar sound. i think many of the high end players really do have a similar sound. oddly enough, the biggest difference i ever heard with a source was a Harmon/Kardon cd changer with burr brown dacs. It sounded much smoother than other players I heard, including 3000 dollar Myriads which all sounded the same to me.

Okay... "Source First" is a huge force on HeadFi. Yet you "didn't expect people to put source as a high priority"? ?!?!?!? The signal you're hearing started in your source (duh, that's why we call it source), so of course it matters. If your source is bright, your entire system will be bright. etc. That's like saying "I'm surprised that people think Premium gasoline makes a difference in your car, I thought all gases were the same."

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomek as well, i tried several solid state head amps and really couldn't tell. i'm one of the few people that admits that the headphone out of my receiver sounded just as good as some of the better headamps.

IMHO and FWIW, I think what we should be questioning here is not the "truth" about what components sound different, but the "truth" about how accurate your ears are. I've heard my system unamped for a long time, and more recently a META42 and Gilmore V2SE on my system, and all 3 sound worlds different to me. I've heard my RME and E-MU (both have been compared favorably to CDPs), and they sound quite different. I've heard mods on both cards (source first, remember?) make a big difference in sound as well.

If you can't hear a difference from things that DO make a difference, what's the point? Viva La Team Ears First

 

[tomek]

Can you read?

I said that I was surprised that people disagreed so much about how they ranked sources with some saying no difference and others putting them way down at the bottom.

And as for your golden ears, I'm delighted for you but I don't really care. I was asking for opinions from people who didn't just repeat the same standard responses and who maybe had differing opinions on what made a difference.

In other words, if all you're going to do is crap on this thread then shutup.

 

[philodox]

well, I think that saint panda has basically hit it for me as well... that is pretty much the same list that I would write up... with the exception of the analoguer... never heard one

sduibek... woah... you really freaked out on tomek there buddy... like he said, I think you misread what he meant with the sources... I mean, take a look at tomek's source... its not cheap... and while I agree that solid state amps do have sonic differences, you can kind of see where he is coming from... there is a MUCH larger change between different tube amps from what I've seen... or heard if you will